This has been a sad and stressful week in the Smith household. My Uncle Clarence (pictured on the left with my grandfather on Sept 9th) lost his battle with cancer Saturday morning in his home with his wife Becky and parents by his side. I was able to drive down the night before with Halie to see him and my family the night before he passed. We as a family (The Brannans) have been extremely lucky in not having lost a single family member until now and there are over 50 of us. My grandparents are devastated. Watching them during the funeral was the hardest thing I have had to witness in a very long time if not ever. But I learned something that day I learned what it meant to be a Brannan to be loved and respected for having that name. Clarence wasn't always the most loving and openly affectionate member of the family and the preacher said it best "If he liked you you knew and if he didn't you knew that too." But he had a wonderful turn out and I believe part of the reason was he was a Brannan and that means something in our home town. That name stands for a lot, honesty, hard working, integrity, and also having a heart. My grand parents have the biggest of them all. And that was proved even more so this week-end. I am extremely proud to be one of those Brannans and to be a granddaughter of Rebel and Belle Brannan. Even though my name is Smith now. In my heart I will always be a Brannan.
I also went with Ryan to the doctor on Friday to get his blood work results and it seems years of stress at the shop and to many burgers and fries has caused him to have some pretty high cholesterol numbers total is 278 his LDL (the bad ) is 205. He is working very hard to loose twenty pounds and cut out a lot of the foods he loves but are bad for him. He will also be taking some medication in hope that when he looses some weight he can stop them. And you know me I love him too much to let me ignore this (not that he is) so I will be making sure he sticks to it.
Halie had a few Dr. Appointments as well it seems she cracked her toe in the shower and she has had a few dizzy near fainting spells one at school. It seems her diet will also have to change less sweets and carbs and more protein. (She is her mothers child) her sugar has been out of whack. With Brent also on a diet it seems everyone is on a special diet of some sorts. So today I will be cleaning out the cabinets in the kitchen and getting rid of all the temptations.
Sierra is the same we are going to have a follow up with her Doctor to see what is next it seems the wheat wasn't the magic answer after all.
I have had a blessing in my life one that has been there for a while but I haven't always had the time to recognize it. Miranda is her name we have become very good friends lately. I have made mistakes in the past about her and I am deeply sorry for that. She has been there when I needed her and I for her. And Tripp well that's a whole other story. In my heart she is my sister in law and friend and he my nephew. I am truly blessed.
